


Royai Week 2020 Day 1- Letters

by graciegirl2001



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: A little bit o’ angst, F/M, Letters, Pining, Royai Week 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:01:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24603580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/graciegirl2001/pseuds/graciegirl2001
Summary: Riza is finishing up some paperwork at the office after hours, when she stumbles upon a collection of letters addressed to her in Roy’s desk.
Relationships: Riza Hawkeye/Roy Mustang
Comments: 4
Kudos: 46





	Royai Week 2020 Day 1- Letters

Office hours were long gone, yet Riza was still at her desk, eyes drooping. She had been trying to finish up a few reports for the Colonel, since he had been home with the flu all day. Havoc had offered to help, but Riza, being her usual stubborn self, had insisted she had it covered. Eyeing the incomplete stack, she kicked herself for not taking the Lieutenant up on his offer. 

“Maybe I’ll just finish the rest at home,” she reasoned to herself, gathering up the finished reports. Surely the rest would be more bearable in pajamas with a nice cup of tea. 

The office always seemed so huge at night, without the boisterous team to fill it. It was a nice reprieve, but she missed their company. Work always went by so much quicker when it was filled with the banter of Breda and Havoc, and the occasional question or clever remark from Falman and Fuery. 

Admittedly, it was their leader she missed most on nights like this. Normally, the Colonel would stick around when they had extra work to finish. He wouldn’t be much help, and would complain every minute of it, but it was nice having him there all the same. 

Riza made her way up to Roy’s desk opening the left hand drawer of files where he kept completed paperwork. Tucking her stack into one folder, she caught sight of a mess of crumpled papers wedged up against the back edge of the drawer. They were different sizes and colors, some with torn edges.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Must I clean up after everything sir,” she muttered, gathering up the random papers, determining to throw them away on her way out. 

However, something stopped her. In the corner of one wrinkled yellow page was the word “Riza,” in Roy’s undeniably familiar scrawl.

Intrigued, the lieutenant rested her bag and stack of reports on the Colonel’s desk, and smoothed out the paper. Perhaps it was just a reminder to have her take a report down to headquarters, or an IOU for an impromptu coffee trip.

_“Dear Riza”_ It read.

So… not a reminder. Or an IOU. 

She continued reading.

_Dear Riza,  
_ _You look really nice today. Did you do your hair differently? Ugh. Who am I kidding, you never do your hair differently. Well anyway, it still looks… nice. You know what, forget it, I don’t know what I’m talking about._

_Sincerely,  
_~~_Roy_~~ _Colonel Mustang_

Riza felt her cheeks warm, and fought the urge to laugh. Interesting. She moved eagerly to the next paper.

_Hey Riza,  
_ _I just wanted to say I’m really sorry about the date with Angie last night. I know it was just to get information from Madame, and I know you know that, but I feel bad nonetheless. I really wish I could take you on a proper date. Maybe, you could pretend to come over to deliver some paperwork, and we could have dinner. I’ll cook. Damn, that sounds lame now that I read through it. Paperwork? And we both know I can’t cook. Scratch that then. Don’t worry. I’ll figure something out._

_Yours truly,  
_ _Roy Mustang_

Riza shook her head, and sat in Roy's office chair. He had wanted to have her over for dinner? Of course she would have said yes, that idiot. Even if neither of them could cook. 

The next letter was much shorter, and was torn off across the bottom, cutting off the last of the message. 

_Riza,  
_ _I just had lunch with your grandfather. He told me to marry you again. I wonder_

Feeling her heart pound, Riza searched through the pile for the rest of the letter, to no avail. She shook her head, moving to the next crumpled paper.

_Riza,  
_ _It’s 3:30 am. I’m doing this instead of calling you, I guess. I can’t sleep. It’s one of those nights. Every time I close my eyes I’m there again. I can hear their screams all around me. Do you hear them still? I hope you sleep through the night nowadays. You probably don’t. I’m sorry._

_-Roy_

This writing continued on the back side of the same paper.

_Do you hate me? You really should. This is all my fault you know. I wonder if I just hadn’t shown up on your father’s doorstep, would you be happy? Maybe you wouldn’t get these god forsaken nightmares. Maybe you would be a teacher. A farmer. Get married. Have children. Maybe you would sleep peacefully. I ruined you. I ruined everything._

The office seemed even more silent than before. Riza fought to swallow the lump in her throat, staring frozen at the letter clenched in her hands. All of a sudden she felt dirty, dropping the paper as if it had burned her. 

Riza swiftly swept the pile back into its home in the drawer. She ignored the ache in her chest and collected her things, trying to forget the words burned into her mind.

**********

The next day, she feigned normalcy, greeting the team as they entered. Fuery placed a coffee on her desk and she thanked him with a smile. Havoc started babbling about his date last night, and Breda cuffed the back of his head in passing, adding a snide remark. Falman said something to the Colonel, then left the room with a stack of reports. Everything was normal. Everything was fine.

Until…

Roy opened his left hand desk drawer. He paused, leaning down over it. Riza felt the breath temporarily leave her lungs. 

The Colonel stiffened and sat up, looking across the room directly at her. 

She met his gaze, unable to look away. 

Roy’s lips pressed into a hard line, but he said nothing. 

Soon after, things returned to normal. However, days later when Riza slipped a new collection of paperwork into the left hand desk drawer… the letters were gone. 

  
  
  
  
  



End file.
